Lafrankie Complaint Calls Judge 'Vindictive'

June 06, 1986|by DEBBIE GARLICKI, The Morning Call

The former superintendent of Bethlehem area schools has filed a complaint against a judge who he claims made "unbecoming" remarks during a hearing to expunge the arrest record of the superintendent's son.

Dr. Robert LaFrankie recently sent a complaint to the Judicial Inquiry and Review Board in which he claimed that the remarks made by Lehigh County Judge Maxwell E. Davison were omitted from the transcript of an October hearing.

At the hearing, LaFrankie asked that the court expunge the arrest records of his son, Patrick, because charges of credit card theft against the younger LaFrankie had been dropped.

In the letter to the review board, LaFrankie said, "We believe there have been serious omissions of testimony that were stated by Judge Davison that day in his courtroom that reflect a decorum unbecoming a judge who was assigned to render an impartial judgment regarding our effort to seek an expungement order."

LaFrankie claimed that a transcript of the hearing, which was prepared by a court stenographer, did not coincide with "copious" notes that he and his wife took during the hearing.

"Judge Davison was vindictive in his manner and in his tone of voice. He was angry and repeatedly chided us because we had requested an investigation into this matter," the letter said.

In October, Davison ordered that the arrest records be preserved after learning that the LaFrankies had filed a complaint against an assistant district attorney and a state trooper who handled the case.

The assistant district attorney argued that the records would be needed to respond to the LaFrankies' complaints.

Davison ruled that the records would be kept until the conclusion of the inquiries into the conduct of the state trooper and prosecutor. The state Supreme Court's Disciplinary Board dismissed two complaints that LaFrankie filed against the assistant district attorney.

Daniel P. Sabetti, court administrator, said yesterday that he spoke with the stenographer about a letter that LaFrankie had sent to him regarding the alleged omissions in the transcript.

"She (the stenographer) indicated that she transcribed what she had in her notes," Sabetti said.

"Court reporters are trained to take down 225 words per minute," he added.

Davison said he couldn't comment about the LaFrankies' complaint until the review board's investigation is completed.

The LaFrankies made another court appearance in February in a second attempt to get their son's record expunged.

They asked that law enforcement authorities turn over Patrick LaFrankie's photographs and fingerprints that were obtained during the criminal investigation.

Patrick LaFrankie's name already had been removed from public records in the county Clerk of Courts Criminal Division.

In February, Davison ordered that the arrest records be saved pending the outcome of a federal civil-right action the LaFrankies' brought against the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the state police, the state police commissioner, a state trooper and a store clerk involved in the credit card case.

An attorney for the state police said that expunging the photographs and fingerprints would endanger the defense.

Davison again ordered that the records be preserved, adding, "until this matter is put to rest, if ever."

A federal judge has dismissed the store clerk, the commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the state police as defendants in the civil-rights suit.